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Friday, 12 July 2013

Billy and Monster's New Neighbor has a Secret, by David Chuka

Billy and Monster's New Neighbor has a Secret (The Fantastic Adventures of Billy and Monster #4), by David Chuka
Published by Pen-n-a-Pad PublishingAmazon.co.uk

Discover the interesting neighbours who live on Billy's street, like Mr Forgetful, Miss Squeaky and Mr GrumpDaddy, who has been banned from the local butchers. Why? Because he always gives them grief when he goes to get beef!

Also revealed is Billy's new neighbour Sally... who has a secret.

Having been to the London Book Fair earlier this year, I was approached by David Chuka to review his latest book. It has taken me a while to run it past Caitlin and Lewis, but it definitely went down well as a bedtime story.

The book is aimed at 4-8 year olds, which fits Caitlin and almost Lewis, who is 4 at the end of this month. I think the lower age recommendation fits well, as there were a couple of bits Lewis didn't understand at the beginning. He didn't get that mums have names (other than Mum), and that other people might get that name wrong. Plus, when the book discussed neighbours 'from number [x]', he asked, without fail, "what's number?". Caitlin, who's 5, got it though so I think that's purely age, and it didn't affect his enjoyment of the book.

I read this book just before their bedtime, so I could get the kids to settle down. For most of the book, this was quite successful. I managed to get their opinion on Billy and Sally's fight - Caitlin said Billy was at fault and Lewis thought Sally was in the wrong, so no surprises there! I got some really funny looks from my sister-in-law when I started voicing all the burps, farts and eye-watering smells, but the kids loved it! This was the point where they got a little rowdy, trying to join in, haha!

Even though it was fourth in the series, it was the first I/we'd read of David Chuka's books, and I definitely think we'll be reading more!